Apparatus for controlling sound-records, &amp;c.



E. E. RIBS. APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING SOUND RECORDS, 6w.

' APPLIOATION FILED DBO. '12, 1902.

907, 1'77. Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

I v "F" a 5:1. v

EL IAs E. RIES, or NEW Your, N. r

APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING SOUND-RECORDS, 860.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

Application filed Decembsr 12, 1962.. Serial No. 135,018.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, ELIAS E. lines, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Controlling Sound-Records, &c., of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to that class of instruments which are operated by prepared records or record surfaces in the rately reproduced without interrupting the form of perforated or other rolls, sheets, strips or bands such as organettes, self-playing pianos and organs, orchestrians, musicboxes and the like.

My invention is likewise applicable to and intended for use in connection with record media in the form of cylinders, disks or strips such as used for phonographs, gramophones, kinetoscopes and other reproducing and projection apparatus, as will hereinafter appear. The particular embodiment that I have shown in the accompanying drawings for the purpose of illustrating my invention equivalent, and wound upon another drum.

The principal object of my present invention is to provide a record medium, such as a record sheet, having two sets of records thereon in opposite directions, together with means for reversing the movementof such medium and for automatically shifting it sidewise at the end of one of the records, for

the purpose of bringing the other into action in the reverse direction of'travel of the sheet. ith such a record medium and with such means for controlling themovements thereof two parts of a continuous record, one part running in one direction and the other part in the other direction, may be successively brought into operative relation with the translating device or tracker-board and sepaof the direction of travel of the medium and the automatic shifting of one set of records out of action when the end of such set is reached and the automatic shifting of the other set into action. In this manner a record may be indefinitely reproduced without break or. interruption as long as the same may be desired, and this is especially important in the case of records containing, for example, dance music or other selections having a large number of similar verses or of-alternate stanzas and chorus, which can thus be indefinitely and economically reproduced without curtailment and with considerably less attention on the part of the operator or attendant than is now required. T

InLthe drawings, which clearly show one means of carrying out my invention, which orchestrians, etc, Figure 1 is a top view showing a. record sheet with-two sets of perforations and an operating and feeding mechanism therefor, Flg. 2 1s a side vlew of the same, and Fig. 3 an enlarged, detailed.

view of a portion of theshifting mechanism thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the drawings. I

A is the record sheet or strip about to be unwound from the spool B.

C is a rock-frame free to oscillate on the shaft D, whichis suitably mounted in the main frame of the instrument, organ, piano, etc., which is not shown in the drawings for the sake of clearness. J ournaled in the outer, lower ends of the rock-frame, are the shafts b and- Z), which carry respectively, a

, shafts M and N journaled in suita le bearings 1', (see Fig. 3.) in the main frame, a-

pin f serving to keep the shafts in position. These arms 0, 0', are flattened in the plane of oscillation of the rock-frame C and are provided with shoulders g", g, which are reversed on the opposite arms, that is, the upper end of the arm 0 is bent out, away from the spool E and gearwheel it, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, while the upper end of the armo, .is bent inward.

U )on shafts M and N res" ectivelv the spools E and B, carrying the gear wheels /z and c, are journaled, spool 13 being easily detachable from shaft N and gear wheel 0 and being merely one of many such spools, each of which carries its own record strip or roll, A, and when inserted in position engages by any suitable means the gear wheel 0, to revolve with it. It will be seen from Fig. 3 that the shafts M and N do not revolve, but have a limited movement in the direction of their length, and are normally forced toward the left (Fig. 3) by springs 3 bearing against snoulders on said shafts and .some portion of the main frame as slot 9 in the upwardly extending portion uof the rock-frame C within which slot it has a free but limited motion. A rod or levu' n, (Fig. 2) is provided, which may be used for rocking or tilting the frame C, while the blocks or guides c and 0', located at the front and rear, 1 'pectively, of the trackerboard 1, form a oearing surface over which the perforated record sheet A is drawn in the usual manner. This record sheet, however, is provided with two distinct or alternate sets of perforations, one of which P, is

arranged to operate when the sheet is being m ved in the direction of the arrow, the other or reversed set it being arranged to operate when the sheet is moving in the opposite direction.

It will be understood that the perforations P and B may either r present a record of two or more distinct selections or compositions, or they may jointly constitute a single composition according to the particular nature of the record. In the latter case, the end of the series of perforations P is preferably made coincident with the end'of the main theme or verse or at the termination of some section thereof, the reverse series of perforations R beginning or. containing the refrain or chorus, in order that the, selection may be repeated in complete form as often as desired and that no break in the produc tion at the point of reversal of the sheet may occur.

At the end of the first set of perforations or at any suitable place along the record sheet A, preferably at or near the desired point of" revhrsal, an additional perforation or stop V is provided which is designed in connection with the reversing or shifting mechanism already described, to cause the spools and record sheet to be shifted laterally a distance sufficient to bring either set of perforations into proper position over the translating device or tracl-cer-board I. This tracker-boardcontains the usual air tubes 5 supplied with air from a suitable source, but is arranged with somewhat wider spaces or partitions between them, over which the perforations not in use pass without effect.

The operation of the i ruincnt is as follows :A spool carrying a. roll of the character described having been placed in position on the shaft N, the end of the sheet is passed over the guides and the tracker-board and made fast to the spool E. The rock-frame is then tilted so that the gear wheel 2. meshes with gear 17L. This opzwation, it will. be seen, causes the spools and record sheet, through the coiiperation of the cams or shoulders g, g, on the arms 0, 0, z'ind the shifting springs y, to be shifted laterally to their full extent toward the left (Fig. 3) (or to ward the top in Fig. 1.) and this brings tho 4 first set or series of perforations i ever the airtubes, 2'. Power being now applied to the power-pulley p in the proper direction, the record sheet is gradually drawn across the tracker-board or playing surface I in the di rection of the arrow (Fig. 1.) until it. is entirely unwound. At this point the perform tion V shown in dotted outline, located at or near the rear end of the sheet, and which similar to that shown at V above referred to. passes over the lug w on the bell-crank lever and permits the latter to be forced upward by means of its spring 7:. T. is causes thelowe arm of lever r, through the pin Z and slot 1, to slightly rock the frame about its shaft. D, thereby disengaging gears. 7i and t, and, according to one method of practicing'my invention, (as shown in the drawing by the position of the roc t-franw. and driving belts as indicated by full lines) stopping the operation of the instrument. lhe rock-frame may then, according to the method. just referred to. be tilted still further by means of the shifting lever or rod '12, thereby bringing the gears c and 6 together, which results in' causing the record sheet to be wound back on its spool B. at substantially the same rate of speed with which it was originally wound upon spool E. The

meshing of the right'hand gears c and t, by reason of the movement of the rockframe and its arms 0, 0, causes at the same time the lateral shifting of the-record sheet A with its roll-supporting shafts M, N, for a distance equal to the space between the centravels backward, the intermediate or reyersed set of perforations R are drawn over the air tubesz' in the tracker board. Smce the perforations R, as already stated, are 1111- pressed in the sheet A in a reversed direction to that of the perforations P, With respect to the direction of travel of the record sheet, it follows that its musical selection or other Y record will be rendered in a proper manher.

frame C'by means of the 'rod n to bring the reversing gears t, a, into engagement, as

. just described, it will be obvious that this may be performed automatically. This, in

, fact, isthe preferred method of practicing my invention, especially in cases where the musical composition or other selection represented by the two sets of perforations P and 1% of the record sheet A form parts of a single composition or record, as is likely to be'the case in the majority of instances, or where the roll contains two or more separate selections that are to be played in succession. It will be apparent that this may be accon1- plished by so proportioning or adjusting the bell-crank lever o, and its connections with the rock-frame that when the lug o is permitted to rise through the perforation or stop V in the sheet at the end of the first set of perforations 1, the rock-frame with its driving gears is shifted to its full extent, indicated by the dotted lines in v 'Fig. 2, thus causing the right hand gears c and Z" to mesh and thereby at once bringing about the return movement of he shectautomatically.

The slot 9 is oi' such lengt that. after the "frame has been fully tiltel for the reverse movement asjust described, 'will permit the subsequent depression of the lug' '1." by the record sheet without dis- .urbing the position-of the roclc-fraimuntil the composition has been played through.

Instead of employing as the reversing medium the-special perforation or stop V, which is made sufficiently wide to permit of the lateral shifting of the sheet without binding'against the sides of the lug 'v',) i may make use of the one ofboth of the narrow end portions of the sheet, as at a, as anieans to permit the rise' of the bell crank lever 1'. Instead of a single bell-crank lover, I may use a pair of bell-crank levers nnnn'itedtogether on the same shaft 2 but facing in opposite directions, where it is desired to causethe roll to automatically repeatits record. in order to insure the proper and, positive reversal of the sheet at both ends of its travel, or I may make use of one ofsaid levers as a reversing device and the other as a detent or stopping device, the functions of either 'or both being brought into play, or det-ern'iined, by the position of Lfrom the spirit of my invention. Instead of manually shifting the rockthe rod n, which may be set so as 'to produce the desired result.

I am, of course, not limited, nor do I desire to restrict myself to, the particular form of feeding, stopping, shifting, reversing and repeating mechanism herein described, or anyone or more of them, in as much as it y will be understood that the same are subject to many modifications and may be'widely varied according tothe special requirements of any particular case, without departing Neither lo I restrict myself to the particular form of operating or driving mechanism illustrated, since the same is but one of several types, which will readily suggest themselves .to those skilled in the art, that may be erhployed by me for this purpose.

lVhile I have shown my invention in connection with perforated rollsor sheets 'applicable to pneumatically operated organs, pianos and similar musical instruments, in which a translator in the form of a traclrer-hoard is used, it is evident that the same may be equally well applied to musical and other instruments operated by mechanical, electrical, chen'iical or other translating devices, irrespective of the nature of the record roll or carrier, that is to say, irrespective of whether the record sheet or surface be smooth or perforated or whether it be provided with alternate conducting and nonconducting portions, or with alternate transparent and opaque surfaces, or with elevations or indentations suitable for the move ment of a reed or stylus, or with records of any desired different character from those shown, so long as the records carried by the roll or sheet consist of two or more parallel series running in opposite directions. Nor is it essential to my invention that the oppositely running records alternate shown, since the carrier, for some purposes, may be so subdivided that-the first record or records may all be at one side of its longitudinal center and the second record or records at the other. instead of impressing my records upon a longitudinal moving surface in the form of a flat sheet, strip or band, I' may apply the same to carriers in the form of cylinders or disks, such as used in phonographs and gramo 'iliones as well as in certain types of music boxes.

Instead of alternating the perforations P and R as shown, I may in some cases place i the first set of perforations all at one side It will also be obvious that desirable-for musical instruments embracing a large number of octaves, which may render itadvantageous, owing to the greater width of the record sheet, to provide a special alinement device to guard against undue displacement of its perforations with respect to the tracker-board openings, by reason of possible variations arising from lateral 0X- pansion and contraction. In such cases the sheet A. may be provided along its center with a row of guiding perforations arranged to engage with one or more sprocket wheels .(not. shown) suitably mounted upon the driving frame'in such a manner as to reduce the ett'ect of any expansion of the sheet that may develop, by arising it to spread outward fronrthe'center of the sheet toward its edges.

l-Iaving thus described my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with a record medium having a pair of records disposed side by side, of a translator cooperative separately with the records of said medium, means for feeding said record medium in operative some"? music-sheet having a pair of records dis-- posed side by side, of a tracker-board cooperative separately with the records of said sheet, means for feeding said music-sheet in operative relation with said tracker-board, and means for automatically stopping, shitting and reversing the movement oi'said music-sheet at the end of one record to bring the other record into operative relation with said tracker-board and continue the reproduction.

Signed at the borough of Manhattan in the city, county and State of New York, this 11th day of December, A. D. 1902.

ELIAS E. RIBS. 

